Commission welcomes state sector human resource survey

Commission welcomes state sector human resource survey

November 27, 2015

“We need a public service that reflects the New Zealand public and the HRC Survey is an important way of measuring how we are doing and working out how we can do better,” said EEO Commissioner Dr Jackie Blue.

“We are particularly pleased to see the SSC acknowledge and commit to the collection of robust, harmonized disability data across government agencies.

The HRC survey collects anonymous information about state sector employees and reports on staff numbers, rates of pay and employment benefits, recruitment and retention rates, diversity and leave across New Zealand’s state sector.

Dr Blue said the HRC survey is an important step in addressing disparity.

“If we can’t count it, we can’t improve it. The HRC survey is an important tool in addressing disparity in our public sector,” said Dr Blue.

“We look forward to working alongside the state sector and other stakeholders on solutions to address issues highlighted in today’s survey.”

Areas where the SSC agrees there needs to be continued focus include:

Pacific New Zealanders are both underrepresented in our public service and face the widest ethnic pay gap

Only marginal improvement in the unadjusted pay gender gap at 14% (by 0.1%) but there is acknowledgment that while women make up 60% of the workforce, they make up 82% of clerical and admin roles and 44.2% of senior management teams.

Further research into interventions to reverse the increasing gender pay gap that occurs as care-giving responsibilities rise.

Over the last 5 years female CEOs have increased from 16% to just on 40% but while possibly many are heading small to medium sized departments, it is anticipated that there will be movement and secondments to larger departments over time.

Dr Blue also said that she wanted to take the opportunity to commend the State Services Commission on their partnership with key stakeholders to create positive workplaces for state sector employees free from sexual harassment.